Ice Cream for Breakfast!

Cocoa Puffs Ice Cream Scoops - Ollie's Discount

Rounding out the faux-ice cream trifecta is this box of limited edition Cocoa Puffs Ice Cream Scoops. I found these at Ollie's Discount (which is where all limited edition food goes to die), and even though I am pretty sure these are going to taste gross, I couldn't pass up having a third Neapolitan review on the blog. 

A while back I reviewed the Target Exclusive Neapolitan Peeps
A few days ago I finally posted the American Neapolitan m&m's
and now, we have faux-ice cream for breakfast! 

Packaging-wise, this is way better than m&m's take on the subject. We have bright stripes of Neapolitan colors, mimicking the layout of a real ice cream carton, Sonny serving up scoops in a stylized paper hat, and a bright blue contrast that makes the text POP. Of the three, this is easily the most appealing, and fun, design.

On the back, we have a very brief history behind frozen desserts. Although I'm not 100% sure all these facts are entirely accurate, it's entertaining, visually interesting, and mildly educational. Sleepy me appreciates the bright colors and mild stimulation in the morning. 

Once opened, the bag inside smells...good? Honestly, this stuff smells WAY better than I ever expected. The aroma reminds me a lot of Berry Kix, one of my favorite cereals growing up. I can smell lightly sweetened cereal and some fruity notes, but, surprisingly, I don't smell any chocolate. Chocolate-less Cocoa-Puffs? How can this be? 

These "scoops" are pretty small, way smaller than I expected. I thought we'd be getting normal Cocoa Puff-sized cereal in different ice-cream colors, but this is very different from your average Cocoa Puff. All of the puffs are significantly smaller and pellet-shaped. It kind of looks like a multicolored dry dog food of some kind, and everything is very muted. Not so appealing, but the box does state that no colors from artificial sources are used, so that's to be expected. 

I grabbed a bowl, added some milk, and took a bite. 

Does it taste like ice cream? Not at all, but it IS GOOD. Just like are aroma indicated, this has a light, sweet, fruity cereal flavoring that throws me right back to Saturday mornings eating Kix cereal with my cousins while watching cartoons at their house. (Because they had Berry Kix and we never did.) The lack of chocolatey flavor is surprising, but I honestly don't miss it. I think if the chocolate notes were bolder the cereal would be less enjoyable. 

Just as an experiment, I tried a few of each colored piece of cereal on it's own, to see if the brown tasted different from the pink and so on. The results were...I don't think so? When I covered my eyes and ate indiscriminately, I couldn't tell a difference between any of the colors, but when my eyes were open, I swore the pink colors had a bolder fruity flavor. Deep down, I believe that all of these colors have the same sweet and fruity flavoring, which tastes absolutely nothing like ice cream, but it does make for an enjoyable, slightly tangy, fruity cereal. 

I really thought these were going to be gross, but they weren't! My family seems a little turned off my the idea of ice cream flavored cereal, and none of them have bothered to touch the box when reaching for their morning bowl, but I don't mind. That just means there's more for me to munch on when re-watching Jem and the Holograms.  

 © Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Puccho Fruit Chews - Grapefruit & Yubari Melon

Puccho, Grapefruit & Melon - Asian Food Markets

Even though I have reviewed a BUNCH of different Puccho flavors, there is only one other Puccho review here on the site, and it's the Banpeiyu Da Mon Puccho. 

All the other posts are still in my Tumblr archives, and we both know I'll probably never get around to transferring all those posts over....so let's start fresh with a little information about this candy. 

Puccho is a fruit chew candy produced by UHA. At a glance, the fruit chews look similar to Hi-Chew and many other dense fruit chews from Asia, but this particular variety has some different mix-ins that make it unique. Usually those mix ins are small, stiff, oval-shaped gummy candies with their own unique flavors, but I have had some in the past that used fizzy candy as well.  

Unlike Starbursts, which are more like a stiff taffy that dissolves as you chew it, Puccho has a denser, bouncier, almost gum-like chew that dissolves more slowly. It's a texture I have only experienced in Asian candies, like Hi-Chew, and it's something you really need to experience for yourself to truly appreciate. 

There are tons of flavors available, pretty much every fruit you can imagine, as well as localized specialty items, cola, ramune, and even a mystery fruits flavor. I've tried every flavor I've come across and even though I do have a few favorites, I have never been disappointed.

Will today mark the end of that winning streak? We shall see. 

More Ice Cream Impostors? - Neapolitan m&m's

Neapolitan m&m's - Target

It feels good to be back. 

Blah, blah, life is busy-blah. Let's eat some candy! 

Thanks to this year's Peep and m&m releases, Neapolitan got it's moment in the sun. A classic mix of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, now in candy form, what could go wrong?

If you guys follow any of my fellow foodie friends, you likely know that these are (kind of) a re-release. Prior to their USA debut, Neapolitan m&m's were available in Australia, but their execution was a bit different than what we have here. Firstly, Australia got MUCH nicer packaging. Secondly, their release used "normal" sized m&m's, and each color was a different flavor. The American variety is quite different, starting with the packaging...

March-a-Ween? Taste Test Video(With Boyfriend Shenanigans Outro)

It's like I blink and a whole month goes by! I'm scheduling posts for the rest of the week, in the meantime, enjoy this off-season Halloween taste test and stick around until the end to hear my boyfriend's impressive vocal skills. 

 © Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Brach's Brunch Favorites - Candy Corn, For Breakfast?

Brunch Favorites - Target

Because I'm a hamster-human hybrid, and a heartbeat away from being on a special food-themed episode of Hoarders, I'm still finding random food items squirreled away in my moving boxes. I think these came out last year? Maybe last spring? I don't really remember when I bought them, but thanks to the Target exclusive logo at the very top, I do know WHERE I bought them. So, that's something. 

Limited Edition Candy Corn is not an avenue I really specialize in. I'm no candy corn hater, I dig the classics, but a lot of the specialty limited edition stuff just doesn't work for me. Especially not in a full-sized bag. If they came in fruit-snack-sized pouches I'd try a lot more of them, but I've thrown way too much money, and stale nibbled on candy corn, in the trash to continue taking risks on one-off flavors just for reviewing purposes. 

Yet, for some reason, I still bought this one? Maybe the allure of brunch was just too much for me to ignore. Anyway, past me bought it, and now present me (or not-as-past me, depending on when you read this review) is gonna eat it. 

Sizzlin' Cinnamon Oreos?

Hot & Spicy Cinnamon Oreos - Target 2-for-$5.00

This combo may sound strange to  some, but I'm no stranger to cinnamon Red Hot candy in cookies. Whenever Christmas rolled around my mom would make a bunch of cookies, and one of my favorites was her almond press-cookies with cinnamon red-hot candies mixed in. When baked, they melted into stained-glass-looking ornaments and added a wonderful crunch as well as cinnamon-y flavor. 

That being said, I'm kind of shocked that there aren't actual candies mixed into the cream for added texture. Part of the cinnamon-candy experience is the texture...but I'm excited for these nonetheless. 

Irish Cream Soda - Aldi

Irish Cream Soda - Aldi

Wanna know something crazy? I've been counting my calories. (Don't worry, this isn't going to become a diet blog or anything.) 

It's been a very eyeopening experience. For example, I normally drink a ton of orange juice every weekend, because that's healthy, right? Welp, my large 16 oz. glass of OJ clocks in at over 236 calories! It's nuts. That being said, this one 12 oz. bottle or Irish Cream Soda? 210 Calories! Nearly twice the calories found in a 12 oz. can of Coke. 

Are those calories worth it? We shall see...

Unicorn Gum? I give up. (Quickie Review)

Fairytale Fruit Project 7 Gum - Target

I don't even know what to say for myself. I keep saying I won't go back to Project 7, because of the artificial sweeteners, but their gimmicks sucker me in every time. 

This is unicorn gum. UNICORN. GUM. What am I? Made of stone? So yeah, I don't have high hopes for this, but it's pretty and I wanted to photograph it, so... here we are. 

Functionality-wise, the packaging is the same packet-style as all the other Project 7 gums I've reviewed in the past. Plastic foiled packet, re-seal-able, matte-finish, etc. It photographs like a dream and the colorful fruity unicorn illustration is Juicy Fruit meets Lisa Frank. It's wonderful.